SmokeLess States: National Tobacco Policy Initiative

The Foundation's SmokeLess States: National Tobacco Policy Initiative is a program that supports development and implementation of comprehensive statewide strategies to reduce tobacco use through education, treatment, and policy initiatives.This grant to the Consumers for Affordable Health Care Foundation will build on the infrastructure of the Maine Coalition on Smoking OR Health. This union provides Maine's first link between the missions of tobacco control and access to health care organizations. It will advance these partners' ability to: (1) increase the tobacco excise tax; (2) preserve Maine's number one status in the nation on per capita spending of tobacco settlement funds for tobacco control and prevention; and (3) strengthen protections against environmental tobacco smoke in public places. The coalition will also seek changes in public and private insurance to provide more smokers with access to comprehensive cessation services.